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nielsm
Jun 1, 2009



Poke posted:

What volume in the light novels is the current arc animated from?

The Railgun anime is based on the Railgun manga. The Index anime is based on the Index light novels.
The Railgun manga is written as a side story to the Index light novels.

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arhra
Jun 27, 2006

nielsm posted:

The Railgun anime is based on the Railgun manga. The Index anime is based on the Index light novels.
The Railgun manga is written as a side story to the Index light novels.

Technically the Sisters arc was in the Index LNs, though, albeit from Touma's perspective (hence why it was part of the first season of the Index anime).

No idea what volume it was, though.

Parpy
Oct 23, 2009

Ducklings have been known to imprint on, and imitate, species in close vicinity -- especially cats and dogs.

~SMcD
Vaguely remember someone saying Sisters Arc was in Volume 4? Maybe? I don't have immediate access to the manga at the moment.

VictualSquid
Feb 29, 2012

Gently enveloping the target with indiscriminate love.
Here are some chapter number from the Railgun manga:

Chapters 1 - 16 : Level Upper Arc : As seen in the first Railgun Anime.
Chapters 18 - 30 : 1st Sisters Arc : Misaka vs. Everyone and Meltdown -> Currently running / spoiled by the intro.
Chapters 31 - 39 : 2nd Sister Arc : Touma vs Accelerator, as seen in index.
Chapters 43 - current : School Festival / Misaki / 3rd Sisters Arc As foreshadowed in the first episode of the current season.

I actually hope that the skip over Touma's stuff after the fight with meltdown. And then go straight to the school festival arc.

AtomikKrab
Jul 17, 2010

Keep on GOP rolling rolling rolling rolling.

WE are probably gonna see touma vs accelerator again since that had several chapters in the railgun manga.

Sindai
Jan 24, 2007
i want to achieve immortality through not dying
Well that's kind of a relief. I was dreading going directly into Touma rescuing Misaka in what's supposed to be her show.

Sindai fucked around with this message at 18:07 on May 11, 2013

SatansBestBuddy
Sep 26, 2010

by FactsAreUseless
Oh dear, I see the original Misaka across the street, I need to make a good impression on her for our first meeting, what should I say?

"Meow" :kimchi:

And then she gets her leg ripped off and is crushed by a train car. :catstare: This loving anime.

Alkanos
Jul 20, 2009

Ia! Ia! Cthulhu Fht-YAWN

veekie posted:

There needs to be a gif of the slapfight.

Gifcam really does make this easy!



The whole middle of that episode was pretty :smith: if you've watched Index and know what's coming. That being said, it's good to see Accelerator again even if he's still batshit crazy at this point.

Redcrimson
Mar 3, 2008

Second-stage Midboss Syndrome
A short timeline of my reaction to this episode:

Dawww she saved that kitty! :3:

Ahhh was that her loving leg?! :stonk:

Awww she really does like her big sister's present... :smith:

Nate RFB
Jan 17, 2005

Clapping Larry
Having a different credit sequence was a nice way to send off the episode.

Bakanogami
Dec 31, 2004


Grimey Drawer
One thing to remember is that Railgun is halfway a prequel to Index. The sisters arc was the third or fourth one in Index so what we're seeing now is happening at roughly the same time as the first arc or two of Index.

If you're interested in the source material, the Index novels do contain some of the Railgun characters here and there, so you can see what happens to them after the series. It also introduces some new related characters suck as Last Order and Misaka WORST. Plus any scene with Kuroko meeting Touma is gold.

Nate RFB
Jan 17, 2005

Clapping Larry

tonberrytoby posted:

Here are some chapter number from the Railgun manga:

Chapters 1 - 16 : Level Upper Arc : As seen in the first Railgun Anime.
Chapters 18 - 30 : 1st Sisters Arc : Misaka vs. Everyone and Meltdown -> Currently running / spoiled by the intro.
Chapters 31 - 39 : 2nd Sister Arc : Touma vs Accelerator, as seen in index.
Chapters 43 - current : School Festival / Misaki / 3rd Sisters Arc As foreshadowed in the first episode of the current season.

I actually hope that the skip over Touma's stuff after the fight with meltdown. And then go straight to the school festival arc.
I'm not sure how they'll be able to do the fourth one, seeing as it's still ongoing. Always possible they'll throw in another anime-only arc like the first season.

Clarste
Apr 15, 2013

Just how many mistakes have you suffered on the way here?

An uncountable number, to be sure.
It's pretty much guaranteed that they'll cover the Arts City sidestory (ie: the field trip to California) since they've already talked about it.

Raenir Salazar
Nov 5, 2010

"According to Wikipedia" there is a black hole that emits zionist hawking radiation where my brain should have been

I really should just shut the fuck up and stop posting forever
College Slice
So are the MISAKA sisters still emotionally extremely young but with the intelligence of the network? MISAKA acts just as odd as I remember putting aside the speech patterns.

"A butterfly! Huehuehue..." :geno:

gimme the GOD DAMN candy
Jul 1, 2007
This arc is pretty much the peak of the entire franchise.

Cubemario
Apr 3, 2009
Do they ever explain why they have those speech patterns?

ChronoReverse
Oct 1, 2009

Serious Frolicking posted:

This arc is pretty much the peak of the entire franchise.

This arc is the only bit I'm interested in for the To Aru universe.

pezzie
Apr 11, 2003

everytime someone says a seasonal anime is GOAT

Just watch the best anime ever
I dunno, there's some REALLY bad rear end stuff that come in the novels yet to be animated.

But yeah, this arc is very hard to top.

I haven't even watched this season past episode 2. I know that if I watch the episodes of this arc week to week, I'll go crazy (even if I already know everything that's going to happen). I'm just waiting for this arc to finish then I'm gonna binge it all at once.

Redcrimson
Mar 3, 2008

Second-stage Midboss Syndrome

Cubemario posted:

Do they ever explain why they have those speech patterns?

"Because it's loving moé, that's why!" Redcrimson responds in sardonic tone.

veekie
Dec 25, 2007

Dice of Chaos

Cubemario posted:

Do they ever explain why they have those speech patterns?

Sort of spoiler for the LNs, the way it works is because every Sister is a member of the MISAKA network, which is a true hive entity(making every Sister basically a neuron), while ALSO being each an autonomous agent capable of thought and emotion. The whole network is basically the sum of all MISAKAs, so when speaking for themselves, the Sisters will assert their own identity whenever they talk.

But really it's just because it's loving moe.

ChronoReverse
Oct 1, 2009
Incidentally, "Was it a cat I saw" was an amazing translation.

Cubemario
Apr 3, 2009

veekie posted:

Sort of spoiler for the LNs, the way it works is because every Sister is a member of the MISAKA network, which is a true hive entity(making every Sister basically a neuron), while ALSO being each an autonomous agent capable of thought and emotion. The whole network is basically the sum of all MISAKAs, so when speaking for themselves, the Sisters will assert their own identity whenever they talk.

But really it's just because it's loving moe.

I figured that's what it was, just wondering if it was anything deeper than that. Index implied that's the reason, but you'd think at some point one of the characters would just ask.

PastaSky
Dec 15, 2009
This episode stuff:

I didn't see that dismemberment coming. I kept expecting Misaka to arrive at the last minute. Misaka better pound that guy into the ground. If she can't do that I want her to call kuroko and have her teleport several spikes into that guys brain.

Oneiros
Jan 12, 2007



ChronoReverse posted:

Incidentally, "Was it a cat I saw" was an amazing translation.

What was it originally? I know just enough japanese to know that sort of palindrome wouldn't work.

Outer Science
Dec 21, 2008

Daisangen

Oneiros posted:

What was it originally? I know just enough japanese to know that sort of palindrome wouldn't work.

Minor this episode spoilers: "Koneko", meaning "kitten." Since Japanese is syllabic it's a palindrome.

Cubemario
Apr 3, 2009

PastaSky posted:

This episode stuff:

I didn't see that dismemberment coming. I kept expecting Misaka to arrive at the last minute. Misaka better pound that guy into the ground. If she can't do that I want her to call kuroko and have her teleport several spikes into that guys brain.

:allears: It's really amusing to see predictions and reactions from people who haven't seen Index. I don't know what goes down in the Railgun manga, but if Index is any indication, we are all going to enjoy this season a lot.

AtomikKrab
Jul 17, 2010

Keep on GOP rolling rolling rolling rolling.

PastaSky posted:

This episode stuff:

I didn't see that dismemberment coming. I kept expecting Misaka to arrive at the last minute. Misaka better pound that guy into the ground. If she can't do that I want her to call kuroko and have her teleport several spikes into that guys brain.

(Index) YOu are gonna be very disappointed. Until Accelerator gets the Jerk punched out of him by Kamijou

Somebody fucked around with this message at 06:38 on May 14, 2013

nielsm
Jun 1, 2009



That was brutal.

Anyway, this is either some foreshadowing or a reminder of what happened or something. I'm not entirely sure, but I remember seeing this in either one of the Index series or in the previous Railgun series: A scene at Misaka & Kuroros room, where you see a short glimpse of a report about the Level 6 or Sisters project stick out from below Misaka's bed. That has to have been in one of the Index series, right? Was there any particular meaning to that?

Zettace
Nov 30, 2009
After learning that the project is real, Misaka probably did more research on it and then stashed it there. It was most likely in Index since this part of Railgun happens before the storyline in Index.

Blhue
Apr 22, 2008

Fallen Rib
Yeah, that was in Index. Touma had just met one of the sisters and went to visit Misaka to find out what the gently caress, wound up seeing that since she wasn't present at the time.

lodoubt
Apr 9, 2012

by Y Kant Ozma Post
This could be a pretty interesting fight coming up but *INDEX SPOILERS* Accelerator is well known to be quite a lot more effective with his ESP than Misaka. Usually, espers with broader powers can have their control overridden by someone at the same level with a more specific power trying to counteract them. Accelerator's power is about as general as I can even imagine, and he was able to disperse/reflect Misaka's lightning bolt. I mean we know they both come out of this alive somehow but I have a creeping suspicion that it isn't the evenly matched slugfest that might first come to mind. Like it's sort of inherent from Index that, while it might be VERY hard fought, Accelerator would eventually ruin Misaka in an all out fight. But I'm not actually sure now if she has any way to hurt him even under basically ideal conditions.

Alternatively I'm reading waaaay too much into what was probably a two frame cliffhanger at the end of a chapter.

Zettace
Nov 30, 2009
They are both level 5s but if I recall correctly, the level 5s themselves are ranked and Accelerator is ranked above Misaka.

veekie
Dec 25, 2007

Dice of Chaos

lodoubt posted:

This could be a pretty interesting fight coming up but *INDEX SPOILERS* Accelerator is well known to be quite a lot more effective with his ESP than Misaka. Usually, espers with broader powers can have their control overridden by someone at the same level with a more specific power trying to counteract them. Accelerator's power is about as general as I can even imagine, and he was able to disperse/reflect Misaka's lightning bolt. I mean we know they both come out of this alive somehow but I have a creeping suspicion that it isn't the evenly matched slugfest that might first come to mind. Like it's sort of inherent from Index that, while it might be VERY hard fought, Accelerator would eventually ruin Misaka in an all out fight. But I'm not actually sure now if she has any way to hurt him even under basically ideal conditions.

Alternatively I'm reading waaaay too much into what was probably a two frame cliffhanger at the end of a chapter.

Everything Spoilers(aka I can't recall which source I got each from):
Accelerator is completely supreme where it comes to combat esper effects. It needs to be noted that while he could completely reverse Misaka Imouto's electricity such that it hurts her instead, with Railgun he had to settle for grounding it out, likely due to his control being limited to touch range(so he could reverse the lightning bolt, but not do anything about it since Misaka will take back control the moment it stopped hitting him). If she fired the Railgun at him however, she'd be quite screwed, since he could reflect that perfectly and kill her in one hit.
He is much less useful in noncombat applications than the No. 2 and No. 3.

As for any teleport-kill related shenanigans, there is a directional component to the teleport vector, he could reflect that too. Same reason why Mental Out can't mindfuck Railgun, once it hits their personal field it stops working consistently.

ArchangeI
Jul 15, 2010

lodoubt posted:

This could be a pretty interesting fight coming up but *INDEX SPOILERS* Accelerator is well known to be quite a lot more effective with his ESP than Misaka. Usually, espers with broader powers can have their control overridden by someone at the same level with a more specific power trying to counteract them. Accelerator's power is about as general as I can even imagine, and he was able to disperse/reflect Misaka's lightning bolt. I mean we know they both come out of this alive somehow but I have a creeping suspicion that it isn't the evenly matched slugfest that might first come to mind. Like it's sort of inherent from Index that, while it might be VERY hard fought, Accelerator would eventually ruin Misaka in an all out fight. But I'm not actually sure now if she has any way to hurt him even under basically ideal conditions.

Alternatively I'm reading waaaay too much into what was probably a two frame cliffhanger at the end of a chapter.


He literally has plot armor. It takes Touma to punch it out of him and they later lobotomize him to take him down to manageable levels. I really like the arc behind it though. he is shown so confident in his abilities that he mostly plays with his victims, because he knows there is nothing in the world that can hurt him. Then he meets Touma, who is pretty much an out-of-context problem for ESPers, and loses because of his hubris. I just like that a show acknowledges that solving every problem with your special power leaves you vulnerable when you can't use it.

Dan7el
Dec 7, 2008

I think this is the first ever Japanese anime where I heard someone say "meow" instead of "nyaa" for the sound a cat makes. And then, the cat said "meow" also. Which, I think, is more accurate than "nyaa" anyway. Actually, if I were to imitate it, I'd do more of an "rweorw" sort of. I don't understand the whole "nyaa" thing. It's just not very accurate, in my opinion.

I don't recall if the Accelerator and Rail Gun ever duke it out. I would guess the Accelerator would win fairly handily if they did, though. I'm guessing one reason he was chosen for this program is he's the top of the level 5 chain. My question is this: why would you create such a monster? How would you stop him if he was level 6 and decided to turn against you or the world?

If he has to kill 20,000 of these Mikasa clones, that's a lot over what time period? Do they ever say? Let's say, five years. That's 4,000 clones a year. Divide that by 365 days per year and you have nearly 11 clones a day. When does he have time for this?

At one clone per day, it'll take him nearly 55 years to finish the job.

At some point, you'd think he'd say, "Look, this is boring. I've been killing clones for, what? 3 years now? I'm tired of this crap. I'm not doing it any more. It's not even fun. I get up in the morning, eat my Wheaties® Brand flakes, and then it's kill, kill, kill up to 11 clones a day. I'm not interested in making it to level 6 any longer...."

Also, why can't the original Mikasa tap into this massive clone network if she's so powerful and the origin of all things Mikasa?

veekie
Dec 25, 2007

Dice of Chaos
Some of the tests use more than one clone, you can see one of those experiments being cleaned up in the anime.

As for the original, she can't just dial into the network, because she doesn't operate at the same mental frequency. The clones are only biological copies of her, and mental copies of each other. Both mind and body has to harmonize to actually share power effectively.

Parpy
Oct 23, 2009

Ducklings have been known to imprint on, and imitate, species in close vicinity -- especially cats and dogs.

~SMcD

Dan7el posted:

If he has to kill 20,000 of these Mikasa clones, that's a lot over what time period? Do they ever say? Let's say, five years. That's 4,000 clones a year. Divide that by 365 days per year and you have nearly 11 clones a day. When does he have time for this?

At one clone per day, it'll take him nearly 55 years to finish the job.

At some point, you'd think he'd say, "Look, this is boring. I've been killing clones for, what? 3 years now? I'm tired of this crap. I'm not doing it any more. It's not even fun. I get up in the morning, eat my Wheaties® Brand flakes, and then it's kill, kill, kill up to 11 clones a day. I'm not interested in making it to level 6 any longer...."

Also, why can't the original Mikasa tap into this massive clone network if she's so powerful and the origin of all things Mikasa?

Index/General SPOILER (Accelerator's motivations in this spoiler) Might be best to let Railgun S reveal these in its own time. He is willing to show up for his exercises because he really wants level 6 status so people will finally be absolutely too intimidated to gently caress with him EVER and he can live in peace as a hermit with no real malice towards innocents (bear in mind, he initially thinks of the clones as soulless robots and even despite his attempts to dissuade them from engaging via intimidation and smacktalk, they invariably pick up arms at the appointed time and seal their fate, so it's "okay" to be heartless and barbaric towards them once the fighting starts). He has been used and manipulated his whole life to become a superweapon and feels less-than-human because of sheer amount of blood on his hands. He feels irredeemable and wants to remove himself from society and becoming essentially a living 'nuclear deterrent' with a reputation for unfathomable cruelty to those who would challenge him is the only way he sees as a way out given the history he's had. So the experiment is important enough to him to follow through and show up for these arranged fights. For him, the end justifies the means.

Only really a spoiler to those who haven't seen the past couple episodes: (Why 20000 clones won't take years upon years) The experiment has only recently transitioned to 1v1 combat phase in different locations with different variables. You see in the teaser at the end of episode 4 a room knee-deep full of corpses. He killed those Sisters. He has been taking them on in numbers upwards of 20 to 40 at a time in a controlled environment at that human abattoir ... er ... "lab".


This is Accelerator's handiwork.

Also, there was a short segment explaining why the electric telepathy wouldn't work unless you were on the exact same frequency or whatever (made near impossible to finely tune into with the presence of electrical appliances, trains, roving trashbins, etc. everywhere in the city). The clones may have their brains flashed by Testament soon after birth and tuned to a specific frequency; one different than Biribiri's (which would be a reasonable precaution), though there is some detectable interference when they're in close proximity to one another other as we saw when Biribiri picked up on a strange sensation, looked up and spotted 9982 trying to rescue the cat.

Parpy fucked around with this message at 14:24 on May 12, 2013

Bakanogami
Dec 31, 2004


Grimey Drawer

Parpy posted:

Also, there was a short segment explaining why the electric telepathy wouldn't work unless you were on the exact same frequency or whatever (made near impossible to finely tune into with the presence of electrical appliances, trains, roving trashbins, etc. everywhere in the city). The clones may have their brains flashed by Testament soon after birth and tuned to a specific frequency; one different than Biribiri's (which would be a reasonable precaution), though there is some detectable interference when they're in close proximity to one another other as we saw when Biribiri picked up on a strange sensation, looked up and spotted 9982 trying to rescue the cat.

The exact nature and structure of the Misaka sister network is something that's still being fleshed out in the most recent novels, so it's likely to be a bit more complicated than just being on another frequency. Despite having the same DNA, their ability is even classified differently. The sisters' ability is "Radio Noise" while only Misaka original has Railgun.

That being said, there is some interaction between their powers, especially when in use. Mikoto detecting 9982 was probably when she used her powers to open the car door. On the other hand, (very very light novel spoiler) there was one incident of Mikoto briefly accidentally disconnecting Misaka 10777 from the network when she generated a jamming effect in the area.

The one thing I've always been kind of puzzled at is that by the time 9982 rolls around the sisters still seem to have so little intel about Accelerator's ability. Some of the earlier indoor tests are depicted in the manga so you can see how far the sisters have progressed in terms of combat progress, but you'd think they would have figured out a little more after that many fights.

veekie
Dec 25, 2007

Dice of Chaos
I suspect the early fights involved a onesided murderfest until they learned not to touch him.


Given that those experiments were held in an enclosed room in the labs, they wouldn't have much more time to learn things beyond his immunity to bullets and electricity as well as the fact that touching him is death.

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AtomikKrab
Jul 17, 2010

Keep on GOP rolling rolling rolling rolling.

The other thing missed a lot is that the fruits of this were to be later used to boost Mikoto as well. It is mentioned that there would be adjustments to mikoto based off this as well, so the Misaka's get given 0 information about accelerator and have to learn as they go and get brutally slaughtered. Then I guess they upload all the information into Mikoto for SCIENCE or something. They probably wouldn't have much of a problem dumping all the information from the clones into her given their tech the network not being linked to her is likely deliberate.

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